BUYING organic meat, eggs and milk is the ONLY way to avoid genetically modified produce, Britons have been warned.

Organic food is the only way to know you are not eating GM, supermarkets have said

It is increasingly difficult to avoid produce from livestock fed GM crops and it is in most meat sold in restaurants and supermarkets, the National Farmers' Union conference heard yesterday.

A shocking 80 per cent of maize and soya beans, which are the main sources of food for cattle, are now GM due to the global nature of food sold in British supermarkets and on the wholesale market.

When you buy a steak, how do you know what the animal has been fed on? It could have been fed on Welsh grass or it could be beef fed on Brazilian soya which is GM

Peter Melchett

GM crops are not being grown in the UK, apart from a few small batches at research centres, but many shoppers are unwittingly buying GM-fed produce.

David Hughes, professor of food marketing at Imperial College London, said: "We find it convenient not to make a big noise about it."

Fast-food giant McDonald's admitted to using beef from cows raised on GM crops.

Connor McVeigh, director of supply chain at McDonald's UK, said he knew customers did not want GM ingredients bit it was "becoming increasingly difficult to source non-GM feed within our supply chain".

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More and more meat products in the UK are GM-fed

UK supermarkets have admitted although they do not sell GM foods, many of the meat products are fed GM crops after a pledge to ensure farm animals were reared on a GM-free diet was dropped in 2013.

With 90 per cent of North and South America's soya bean crop being GM, it is difficult to get away from the crops which have DNA which does not occur naturally.

Peter Melchett, of the Soil Association, said British animals should be fed domestic vegetables instead of GM crops from the United States and Brazil.

He said: "When you buy a steak, how do you know what the animal has been fed on? It could have been fed on Welsh grass or it could be beef fed on Brazilian soya which is GM.

"Nobody is going to tell you. Are we too childish or infantile to be told this?"

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Beef in the UK is mostly fed with GM crops

He said the British public should be told what they are buying as there are potential health risks to humans eating GM-fed meat.

There are also concerns over an excessive use of weedkillers on soy production in the Americas, both for animal feed and human consumption.

Mr Melchett added: "If it's so wonderful, let people choose."

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Maize and soya crops in North and South America, used to feed animals, are 90 per cent GM

2013 marked the year GM became especially prevalent in Britain, with supermarkets dropping their non-GM feed pledge, and Owen Paterson, the former Tory environment secretary saying "not a single" steak in Lodnon restaurants was not made from GM-fed cattle.

At the end of last year, 19 European Union (EU) member states signed up to rules introduced six months before which permits individual EU countries to ban cultivation of GM crops.

Germany, France, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales were among those who signed up, but it does not stop GM feed being used.

A proposal was put forward in early 2015 by the European Commission to introduce an opt-out provision on GM feed but this was rejected over fears it would hit the meat-trade.

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"We are also aware that some customers have concerns regarding products from animals that may have been fed a diet containing GM material. As part of offering a choice to our customers, we offer a range of own brand organic products which guarantees the animals are fed a non-GM diet."

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said GM crops are "considered to be as safe as food from animals fed on non-GM crops."

But, it said a review by the European FSA had found it is "possible that DNA fragments derived from GM plant materials in feed may occasionally be detected in animal tissues."